August 9, 2012

Retired admiral remembered as man whose Catholic faith was his compass

 

NATIONAL

By Mark Zimmermann
Catholic News Service
(CNS photo/courtesy DOE)

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In his lifetime, retired Adm. James D. Watkins served as chief of naval operations and as commander of the U.S. 6th Fleet and the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and during his 37-year Navy career, he also was stationed on destroyers, cruisers and submarines.

And at the beginning of the admiral’s Aug. 3 funeral Mass, his son and namesake, Msgr. James D. Watkins Jr., said it was fitting to sprinkle holy water on the casket of a devoted Catholic, a man of the sea and a public servant who spent so much of his life on the ocean.

The sprinkling rite — a sign of a person’s baptism and entry into new life in Christ — was conducted at the end of Mass by Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington.

In his homily, Msgr. Watkins said his father’s strong Catholic faith guided his military service and his service as a government official, which included being appointed by President Reagan to chair the Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic, and serving under President George H.W. Bush as U.S. energy secretary.

“He was faithful to the mission,” the priest said, recounting how his father approached every job, and every difficult decision, relying on his faith, his conscience, and an unwavering personal integrity.

Watkins, who was 85, died of congestive heart failure July 26 at his home in Alexandria, Va.

Msgr. Watkins was the principal celebrant of the Mass for his father in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. The concelebrants included several bishops, including Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, and by two dozen priests, including Navy chaplains.

Eight U.S. Navy sailors dressed in white served as pallbearers, solemnly carrying the admiral’s flag-draped casket through the national shrine’s Memorial Hall on the way to the Crypt Church.

In a eulogy at the Mass, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, current chief of naval operations, praised his predecessor in that post, saying Watkins was a man of faith whose personal integrity guided each decision.

“His faith was his moral compass always. He believed it and lived it. It set the course for his life,” Greenert said.

In another eulogy John Warner, a former U.S. senator from Virginia and former Navy secretary, said the late admiral set the standard for those who aspire to be an officer and a gentleman. The admiral, he said, was a man who lived each day of his life dedicated to “duty, honor and country.”

Adm. William Fallon, retired commander of the U.S. Central Command, read the second reading from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

Before reciting the first reading from Isaiah, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Watkins “an outstanding military and civil leader.

“Every bone in his body was dedicated to making America stronger, dedicated to making sure we were better stewards of our resources, especially the oceans, and he was dedicated to improving the lives of all our citizens, especially the most vulnerable,” Panetta said.

After Communion, Cardinal Wuerl recalled the admiral’s deep faith and conviction and said he was a man who understood “there is nothing God asks us to do that we’re not capable of doing, with his love.”

In his homily, Msgr. Watkins quoted an address his father once gave, when he spoke about the importance of relying on a well-formed conscience.

In a 1991 speech to graduating eighth-graders at St. Ann’s Academy in Washington, Watkins told the students that the best way to stay ship-shape in life is to form a good conscience and stick to it.

“Your individual conscience is the single unassailable asset that nobody can take from you. It will be your greatest guide and your best comfort throughout all your life,” he said. “Never let it die, even when times are so good that you think you might not need it.”

In his homily, Msgr. Watkins said his father was a natural leader who relied on his analytical skills, his experience as an engineer and his faith to confront difficult issues and devise policies, basing his decisions not on political winds, but on what his conscience told him was the right thing to do. “Dad could engineer a problem and see it through to the end,” he said.

Watkins, his son noted, was a man who knelt humbly in prayer at Mass, where he drew strength. “It (the Mass) gave him tremendous power, tremendous energy to do the work he had to do,” said Msgr. Watkins, who serves as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Washington. “He acknowledged with prayer to God, that he needed grace, he needed help.”

The U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters Chorus led the congregation in singing the Navy Hymn as the closing song for the Mass. The sailors serving as pallbearers then again solemnly carried the admiral’s casket through the lower level of the national shrine, followed by his family members.

Members of the Navy standing on the shrine’s steps saluted the admiral’s casket as it was placed in the hearse. Msgr. Watkins then touched the casket, offered a final blessing and a wave goodbye to his father, as priests standing nearby chanted “Salve Regina.”

Watkins will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery Sept. 26.

• Zimmermann is editor of the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington.